Richmond Hill

Contents

Many of Australia's big soap opera successes have struck out
on their own and had their daring and originality repaid with notoriety
and
conspicuous commercial success. Number 96
busted out in 1972 with naughty neighbours, bed-hopping marrieds and
nude glimpses while the just-as-naughty The Box
was a
cheeky satire set in a "fictional" television station. Prisoner had crime, drama, pathos
and old lags inhabiting a women's prison. Sons and Daughters featured melodrama, devious schemes and heart rending
tragedy, and a neurotic heroine Patricia "Pat the Rat" Hamilton, played
by Rowena Wallace.

On the other hand thoughtful and conscientious dramas like A Country Practice
have dished out social commentary in a rustic, rural setting and
generated critical and ratings success. And Australia has always had a
cop show of some sort, somewhere.

With this wealth of proven formulas Richmond Hill
was not bereft of ideas, and it mixed many proven soap elements and
cast several actors well known for previous soap roles. The Grundy's
produced series was created by
Reg "Prisoner" Watson for Channel Ten, and had its much
hyped premiere on Wednesday 27 January 1988.

The Premise

Clearly intended for an early evening timeslot this is the
show that tried to be nice. Certainly it did not manage to be very
original. Set in a quaint rural community somewhere outside Sydney the
basically lightweight serial threw in a bit of everything: high drama
and bedroom farce involving the slimy real estate agent Alderman Frank
Hackett (Robert Alexander) and a lascivious barmaid Connie Ryan (Amanda
Muggleton), an all-powerful female figure in the form of Frank's wife
Ivy Hackett (Maggie Kirkpatrick), devious schemes devised by bitchy
Anne Costello (Emily Symons), lashings of social commentary in the
storylines of the crusty Mum Foote (Gwen Plumb) - an opinionated
oldster in overalls whose farm provided a home for young runaways and
assorted strays. Then there were several bubbling romances amongst the
various youngsters that resided in the area.

However the most obvious borrowing was from Cop Shop. Though Richmond Hill
may not have been, strictly speaking, a police drama, the local police
station was the scene of much of the action, and the assorted cops took
pride of place amongst the show's cast of characters. Former comedy
star Ross Higgins was Dan Costello who took charge of the police
station and was the show's main authority figure. Dan was kept busy
dealing with local crime waves, the wayward younger cops, and his own
wicked daughter Anne. He originally had a wife played by Rona Coleman,
though she died shortly after the show began. Dan later embarked on a
romance with a snippy police inspector played by Jan Kingsbury.

The storyline opens with authoritarian policeman Warren
Bryant (Tim Elston) moving in with his earnest wife Janet (Paula
Duncan), still battling the depression stemming from an earlier rape.
Despite the presence of a hunky teenage son Marty (Ashley Paske), the
Bryants and their endless family problems were Dull Dull Dull!
Meanwhile Tim Shannon (Robert Sampson) and Susan Miller (Felicity
Soper) were young cops who fought crime with aplomb and shared a flat
where domestic squabbles and kitchen disasters provided endless
merriment. Finally Jill Warner (Dina Panozzo) was an assertive young
woman who had recently arrived to begin work as a real-estate agent.
Jill enjoyed a romantic affair with Tim.

Evaluation

In evaluating Richmond Hill it must be
remembered that it was coined as a companion piece to Neighbours
during that show's early years when it was a massive ratings success in
Australia. Though initially a flop on Channel Seven, Neighbours
had been revamped when it was picked-up by Channel Ten. Several
handsome youngsters were added to the cast, and by 1987 a series of
major publicity drives had turned the show into a ratings winner.

The only thing that amazed Australian television critics more
than Neighbours' high ratings in Australia was the show's
incredible success in the UK. Clearly targeting this lucrative market
the makers of Richmond Hill apparently attempted to
expand on the successful Neighbours formula by taking bland
and inoffensive comedy subplots and mixing them with slightly gritty
police drama
and social conscience style storylines reminiscent of the earlier Cop Shop,
and the then still successful A Country Practice.

Storylines

The most interesting storyline of Richmond Hill
involved barmaid Connie Ryan, so well played by Amanda Muggleton, who
was remembered for her portrayal of Chrissie Latham in Prisoner.
Connie was a single woman who struggled to raise her teenage son Andrew
(Marc Gray). Always on the lookout for a generous sugar daddy, Connie
attempted to enhance her sexy image by wearing short skirts and
subtracting several years from her age, while insisting that Andrew was
in fact her younger brother. No one was very surprised when the facts
of Andrew's true parentage came out after his first brush with the law.
As anyone familiar with Amanda's Prisoner character would
recognise, Connie could well have been taken as a continuation of that
show's lascivious schemer Chrissie Latham. Both characters emerged as
struggling single mothers willing to use their feminine charms to
secure a better life for herself and child, sometimes employing
underhanded methods. These methods might have attracted scorn from some
quarters, but ultimately the motivations were sincere.

Connie's early assignation with Frank Hackett ended in
disaster when the police comically burst in on one of their bedroom
romps. She soon got over this embarrassment thanks to the support of
Mum Foote and new friend Janet Bryant, though the relationship with
Andrew remained rocky.

Frank Hackett died of poisoning 13 weeks into the show's run.
Widow Ivy, played by Maggie Kirkpatrick, previously a huge star as the
hated and corrupt prison officer Joan Ferguson in Prisoner,
gleefully crowned herself queen of her mansion and took the reins of
Frank's real estate business with relish, plotting out future devious
schemes with her pal Mavis Roberts (Betty Lucas). Though neighbourhood
gossips whispered that Ivy might have been the poisoner, nothing was
ever proved and she emerged as the show's main heavy, though here her
overbearing manner was played more for comedy than terror.

The
Cast

Though Australian soaps are notorious for the high rate of
actor reuse amongst them, most begin life with a cast largely
consisting of unknowns - it is after the show becomes a hit that the
cast become stars who make guest appearances in subsequent soaps. This
was not the case with Richmond Hill. This new show
clearly tried to secure success by slotting several familiar faces into
major roles. The move might not have drawn in the viewers as planned
but the actors involved, who may well have feared that typecasting
would prevent them from ever getting another acting job, were no doubt
eternally grateful.

Ross Higgins was well known for comedies The Naked Vicar Show
and Kingswood Country. Tim Elston had appeared in Prisoner
as Dr Scott Collins, in Neighbours as ill-fated racing driver
Jeremy Lord, and had taken a leading role as a policeman in failed 1981
Grundy drama Bellamy. Amanda Muggleton and Maggie Kirkpatrick
were undoubtedly huge stars through their long running Prisoner
roles.

Paula Duncan was known for several leading soap roles. She was
Carol Finlayson in Number 96 in 1974, Lisa Brooks in The Young Doctors
in 1977, and Lorelei Wilkinson in Prisoner in 1986. However
it is for her portrayal of policewoman Danni Francis through Cop Shop's
1977-1984 run that she received in six acting awards and a taste of
soap superstardom.

Meanwhile Gwen Plumb had played the iconic role of kiosk lady
Ada Simmons in The Young Doctors for its entire 1976-1983 run.

Plumb had fought for that earlier soap, lobbying the boss of
Channel Nine against cancelling The Young Doctors
after it received initial low ratings and bad reviews. At the launch of
Richmond Hill she told Sydney Morning
Herald
television journalist Lucy Clark she'd fight for this show too. "My
word I'd fight for it. I had good vibes for The Young Doctors
and I've got good vibes about this."

The role of Mum was created for Plumb after writer Reg Watson
saw her play a similar character in a Neighbours guest role.
Watson
sent tapes to Reg Grundy, who said "get her". At the time Plumb had
started work on another new serial, Homeand Away,
playing a local gossip. However when Watson explained he had written Richmond Hill's
Mum character for her, she felt obligated to take that role instead.
"John Holmes (Home and Away's line
producer) who I had worked with on Neighbours was really
sweet about it."

Plumb said she did not like to call Richmond Hill
a "soap", just "commercial television,"

"Not everyone is going to like it.
Not the blue stockings but the average people are going to like it and
there are a lot of average people."

Reviewer Paul Speelman reported that the series was
explicitly designed to hold audiences after 7.30 pm. Though at the time
Ten received strong ratings for its early evening programs - dating
game show Perfect Match, its news service and Neighbours
- ratings would be "lost come the 7.30 pm slot."

After a preview of the serial's first four hours, Speelman
stated that while Richmond Hill was watchable
and provoked some curiosity about possible future developments, overall
it lacked that special quality that would grab and hold viewers.

"It's the important first episode
that is the problem: it is overloaded with action - two rapes, a
kidnapping, an illicit affair, a couple on the verge of a divorce, a
falling out between mates over a girl - but short on most other
prerequisites for such an important program: inspiration, originality,
and more than just competent acting."

Nevertheless cast members Gwen Plumb and Marc Gray are named
as exceptions in the acting department. Felicity Soper is said to be
"pleasant" while Maggie Kirkpatrick "has her moments".

Ross Higgins as Sergeant Dan Costello is listed by Speelman
as one of the show's "serious shortcomings". Speelman also judges
confrontation scenes between Tim and Jill as a heavy-handed and obvious
prelude to romance. Other scenes are said to be "badly staged and
unconvincing", and "predictable". [2]

The
End and the Aftermath

With the possible exception of placing Ross Higgins - formerly
blustering bigot Ted Bulpitt in comedy series Kingswood Country
- in a straight role as the show's authority figure, Richmond Hill's
major failing was that it was just too bland. It rated well enough to
last out the year in its early evening timeslot, but when it came to
the crunch the network failed to renew the show for a second year. (Richmond
Hill had been rating in the high teens when it was cancelled. [3]) Episodes continued
screening unabated into the summer non ratings period where the
stockpiled episodes played out, and there the show quietly died.

At the start of 1989 Network Ten launched E Street. This was a new, urban
based serial focusing on a new, funkier, batch of policemen, lawyers
and doctors, and a more rugged (and vibrant and colourful) community of
wayward youngsters.

Newcomer Ashley Paske had a regular role in Neighbours
after Richmond Hill's demise but did not enjoy lasting
fame. Another youngster, Emily Symons, went straight into the long
running role of bouncy Marilyn in Home and Away.
Symons was then a regular in high rating United Kingdom serial Emmerdale
from 2001 to 2008 before finally returning to the role of Marilyn in
2010.

Dina Panozzo, one of the more interesting cast members of Richmond Hill,
made sporadic appearances in television guest roles
and Australian feature films. Paula Duncan continued to play nice
middle class soap heroines. The versatile Amanda Muggleton, possibly Richmond Hill's
brightest talent, went on to become one of the biggest, and busiest,
stars of the Australian stage.

Though never a big success in Australia Richmond Hill
was successfully sold to the UK, a sale presumably helped by the
presence of several former stars of Prisoner plus Neighbours'
continued success there. As had been the case in Australia, the show's
UK ratings remained only lukewarm.